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  <div class="section" id="optional-operating-system-services">
<span id="someos"></span><h1>17. Optional Operating System Services<a class="headerlink" href="#optional-operating-system-services" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>The modules described in this chapter provide interfaces to operating system
features that are available on selected operating systems only. The interfaces
are generally modeled after the Unix or C interfaces but they are available on
some other systems as well (e.g. Windows or NT).  Here&#8217;s an overview:</p>
<ul>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference external" href="select.html">17.1. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">select</span></tt> &#8212; Waiting for I/O completion</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="select.html#edge-and-level-trigger-polling-epoll-objects">17.1.1. Edge and Level Trigger Polling (epoll) Objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="select.html#polling-objects">17.1.2. Polling Objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="select.html#kqueue-objects">17.1.3. Kqueue Objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="select.html#kevent-objects">17.1.4. Kevent Objects</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference external" href="threading.html">17.2. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">threading</span></tt> &#8212; Higher-level threading interface</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="threading.html#thread-objects">17.2.1. Thread Objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="threading.html#lock-objects">17.2.2. Lock Objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="threading.html#rlock-objects">17.2.3. RLock Objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="threading.html#condition-objects">17.2.4. Condition Objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="threading.html#semaphore-objects">17.2.5. Semaphore Objects</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="threading.html#semaphore-example">17.2.5.1. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Semaphore</span></tt> Example</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="threading.html#event-objects">17.2.6. Event Objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="threading.html#timer-objects">17.2.7. Timer Objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="threading.html#using-locks-conditions-and-semaphores-in-the-with-statement">17.2.8. Using locks, conditions, and semaphores in the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">with</span></tt> statement</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="threading.html#importing-in-threaded-code">17.2.9. Importing in threaded code</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference external" href="thread.html">17.3. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">thread</span></tt> &#8212; Multiple threads of control</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference external" href="dummy_threading.html">17.4. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">dummy_threading</span></tt> &#8212; Drop-in replacement for the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">threading</span></tt> module</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference external" href="dummy_thread.html">17.5. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">dummy_thread</span></tt> &#8212; Drop-in replacement for the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">thread</span></tt> module</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html">17.6. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">multiprocessing</span></tt> &#8212; Process-based &#8220;threading&#8221; interface</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#introduction">17.6.1. Introduction</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#the-process-class">17.6.1.1. The <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Process</span></tt> class</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#exchanging-objects-between-processes">17.6.1.2. Exchanging objects between processes</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#synchronization-between-processes">17.6.1.3. Synchronization between processes</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#sharing-state-between-processes">17.6.1.4. Sharing state between processes</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#using-a-pool-of-workers">17.6.1.5. Using a pool of workers</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#reference">17.6.2. Reference</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#process-and-exceptions">17.6.2.1. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Process</span></tt> and exceptions</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#pipes-and-queues">17.6.2.2. Pipes and Queues</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#miscellaneous">17.6.2.3. Miscellaneous</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#connection-objects">17.6.2.4. Connection Objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#synchronization-primitives">17.6.2.5. Synchronization primitives</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#shared-ctypes-objects">17.6.2.6. Shared <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">ctypes</span></tt> Objects</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l4"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#module-multiprocessing.sharedctypes">17.6.2.6.1. The <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">multiprocessing.sharedctypes</span></tt> module</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#module-multiprocessing.managers">17.6.2.7. Managers</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l4"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#namespace-objects">17.6.2.7.1. Namespace objects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l4"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#customized-managers">17.6.2.7.2. Customized managers</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l4"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#using-a-remote-manager">17.6.2.7.3. Using a remote manager</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#proxy-objects">17.6.2.8. Proxy Objects</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l4"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#cleanup">17.6.2.8.1. Cleanup</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#module-multiprocessing.pool">17.6.2.9. Process Pools</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#module-multiprocessing.connection">17.6.2.10. Listeners and Clients</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l4"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#address-formats">17.6.2.10.1. Address Formats</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#authentication-keys">17.6.2.11. Authentication keys</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#logging">17.6.2.12. Logging</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#module-multiprocessing.dummy">17.6.2.13. The <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">multiprocessing.dummy</span></tt> module</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#programming-guidelines">17.6.3. Programming guidelines</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#all-platforms">17.6.3.1. All platforms</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#windows">17.6.3.2. Windows</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="multiprocessing.html#examples">17.6.4. Examples</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference external" href="mmap.html">17.7. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">mmap</span></tt> &#8212; Memory-mapped file support</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference external" href="readline.html">17.8. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline</span></tt> &#8212; GNU readline interface</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="readline.html#example">17.8.1. Example</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference external" href="rlcompleter.html">17.9. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">rlcompleter</span></tt> &#8212; Completion function for GNU readline</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="rlcompleter.html#completer-objects">17.9.1. Completer Objects</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>


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